Printing-machine



mww-Io A. R. CURTIS AND C. E. OATHOUTI PRINTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 9. IBIS.

V Patented. May MI, 1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEEVT 1.

Un te SATES a t 11'? rain ARTHUR R. CURTIS AND CHARLES E. OATHOUT, OFCLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNORS TO THE KAYNEE COMPANY, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, ACORPORATION OF OHIO.

PRINTING-MACHINE.

Application filed May 9, 1919.

To all to 710771 may 0012 cern Be it known that we, ARTHUR R. CURTIS andCHARLES E. On'rnou'r, citizens of the United States, and residents,respectively, of Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio,and Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, haveinvented a certain new and useful Improvement in Printing-Machines, ofwhich the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to a printing machine, and has for its object toimprove the eiiiciency and utility of certain kinds of printingmachines, for example, those adapted to print data repeatedly onseverable portions of a card or strip.

In certain industries, as for example, in

the garment making industry, it is customary, especially when theoperators are paid on a piece-work basis, to attach to bundles of pieceswhich are to be made up into garments, cards composed of tabs orsections usually separated by scored linesiso that they can be detachedby the operators, 'hesc sections having printed thereon, certainidentification data common to all the sections or" a card, as, forexample, data identitying or descriptive of the garments, such as thelot number, size, and the number of pieces of which a garment or bundleto which the card is attached is composed.

This data being common to all the sections of a card, can be readilyprinted thereon, and it is customary for garment manufacturers to printthisdata on the cards by :1 common and simple form of printing ma chinewhich feeds the card, step by step along the printing platen, and whichat the same time prints or stamps the data common to all the sections oithe card successively on the different sections.

However, it is desirable that the diiierent sections of a card beprovided in addition to this common data, with different or vary ingdata as to the prices to be paid the diftorcnt operators for thedifferent operations that they are to perform. Hence it is customary torthe garment manufacturer to have employees write price data for thediti'ercnt operations on the different sections of each card after thecards have been run through the printing machine which prints thereonthe same or common data referred to above. This ordinarily completes thein- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May it 19921.

Serial No. 295,915.

formation necessary to be provided on a card for attachment to a bundleof pieces.

In practice, the bundle is passed from operator to operator, each ofwhom performs a given operation on the pieces of the bundle, and wheneach has completed his or her work, the operator detaches from the carda section or tab corresponding-to the operation which this operator hasperformed, which tab shows the price that the operator is to be paid forthe operation, and at the end'of the day the operator will have a seriesof these tabs which will be turned into the otlice for use indetermining the amount that this operator has earned during the day, thetabs that the operator turns in, being a check on the stubs of the cardswhich were turned into the office from another source.

This method of making up the cards, 2'. 6., by printing the common dataon the difierent sections and writing the different data on the sectionsis not only exceedingly expensive in a garment making establishment oflarge size, but errors are liable to be, and frequently are made.

Furthermore, the cards such as above described, and designed to beattached to bundles of parts or pieces which are to be made intogarments, obviously are not all required to have the same number 01"-printed tabs or sections since certain bundles require iore operationsthan others.

By the machine which we have provided, the necessity for writing thedata, which is difi'erenttor the different sections, is obvi ated,mechanism being provided to print on the different sections the varyingdata, at the same time that there is printed thereon the data which iscommon to all of them.

As a further feature ot the invention, provision is made forautomatically stop ping the printing machine or the movement of theprinting head after a predetermined number of printing operations havebeen performed on the'cards, and in fact we provide means whereby assuccessive cards are run through the machine, each will be sub jected tothe desired number ot'printing operations irrespective or the numberwhich is predetermined, and when a particular card has received a numberof printing impressions, the printing operations will automatically stopthough the cards which preceded it and which follow may receive adifferent number of printing operations.

Another important feature of theinvention resides in the manner ofconstructing the printing iead, and especially the support for theprinting members which are Preferably in the form of wheels, and whichprint on the different sections of a card the same data and the varyingdata, it being one of the specific objects to provide means whereby theprinting wheel which carries the type for printing the varying data canbe readily and quickly removed from the printing head without disturbingor making it necessary to remove the printing wheels which print therecurring data.

The invention may be further briefly summarized as consisting in certainnovel details of construction, and combinations and arrangements ofparts which will be described in the specification and set forth in theappended claims. I

In the accompanyingsheets of drawings wherein we have shown thepreferred form of the invention, Figure 1 is a top plan view of amachine constructed in accordance with our invention, parts being brokenaway, and other parts being in section; Fig. 2 is a side elevation ofthe same; Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view showing a portion of the machinein rear elevation;'Fig. a is a view on an en larged scale, showingpartly in elevation and partly in section, some of the printing wheels,and showing the manner in which that wheel which prints the varying datamay be readily removed; 5 is a view of the same partly in end elevationand partly in section; andFig. 6 is a view of a card such as maybeprinted with the machine.

The machine includes in this instance, a base or stand 10, on which ismounted a horizontal bed or frame 11. A movable printing head designatedinits entirety by the reference character 12, is in this case adapted tobe moved up and down, or swung vertically, and to that end it is carriedby an oscillating arm 13, secured to rockshaft 14, mounted in suitablehearings on the frame, this rock-shaft having a rearwardly extending arm15, to the rear end of which is connected an actuating link 16, whoseupper end is connected at an off-center point, as clearly shown in Fig.2, to a rotary actuatingdisk 17, which is mounted on a shaft 18,likewise supported in suitable hearings on the frame of the machine. Theshaft is driven by a gear 19, engaged by a driving pinion 20, secured toa shaft 21 which issupported on the frame between the shaft 18 and therock-shaft 14.

Mounted on the shaft 21 is a driving pulley 22 which is normally looseon the shaft and can be moved endwise thereon. This pulley rotates theshaft when it is pressed against a clutch disk 23 which is fixed to theshaft. r

The pulley is moved into and out of en genient with the clutch disk 23by a lever I on a rock-shaft 25, suitably mounted in aearings on the bedor frame 11, this rock- 'haft being provided on its rear end with acell-crank, one arm 26 of which projects up wardly and inwardly, and isprovided at its free end with a roller 27 engaging the face of the crankdisk 1?. This disk prevents disengagement of the pulley and disk 23,except when the roller 27 drops into a slot 28 of the crank disk 17. Theother arm 29, of the bell-crank has connected to it a spring 30 whichtends to rock the bell-crank and the rock-shaft 25 so as to disconnectthe pulley 22 and disk 23, and stop the printing operations. The pulleyis pressed into engage ment with the disk 23 by a substantially verticalpush rod 31, and a pedal 32, de-

signed to be actuated by the operator, this push-rod being adapted toengage on the under side of bell-crank arm 29, but when moved frombeneath said bell-crank arm in the manner hereinafter explained, thespring 39 pulls the driving pulley away from the disk 23 when theopening 28 of the crankdisk 17 comes opposite the roller 27, and thusallows the roller to drop therein. The opening 28 which times thestopping of the machine is so positioned that the machine will alwayscome to a stop with the printing head elevated.

' The printing head 12, previously referred to,'and stated to be mountedon the free end of arm 13, has two side plates 33, 33, con-- 'nectedtogether at their front ends by cross bar The printing members carriedby this head are preferably in the form of wheels including normallystationary wheels 35.with printing type on their peripheries, and one ormore, but in this instance, one movable wheel 36 which is designed to nomoved one step during the cycle of each printing operation, this wheel36 being connected by a pin 37 to a ratchet disk 38, the pin 37.prqectmg through the ratchet disk and into a slot on one side of theprinting wheel 36. This printing wheel has periph- 'eral notches orslots into which are set removable type slugs 39, preferably held inplace by rin 's secured to opposite sides of sections or tabs of thecards to be printed,

do not normally rotate on the shaft 41, being held from movement bypawls 13, pressed into peripheral notches of these wheels by leafsprings 44, mounted on the rear part 45 of the printing head, but theend of the shaft.

in the head as there is no occasion ."for re moving them unless theyshould i ecome broken.

The movable printing wheel 36, which as before stated, is moved one stepin the cycle of each printing operation, and which is utilized to printthe varying matter or data on the cards, is mounted on a short shait4-7, which is supported in part by one of the side plates 33 of theprinting head, and in part by the shaft 41, the shaft 4'? having a piloti-Sentering into an opening or soclret the To permit the quick removalof the printinry wheel 36 without disturbing the )rintin wheels 35, orthe shaft ll, on which t in endwise direction, and it is designed to beshifted by the operator outwardly beyond the plane of the wheel 36through the medium 01" a pin 49 which projects outwardly ftrom the shaft47 through a helical slot 50 in a boss or equivalent member 51 on theinner side or" the adjacent plate of the head. It will be obvious,especially by retercnce to Fig; 4, that it is only'neeessary :tor theoperator to move the pin l9 along the spiral slot 50 to shift the shaft4'? beyond the printing wheel 36, thus permitting the latter to beremoved edgewise from the head. Usually there will be provided aseparate printingwheel 36. for each of the different sizes or styles ofgarments, and the construction which we have'providcd, allows theprinting wheel 36 to be quickly changed thus enabling cards for the diiierent types and sizes of garments to be printed without any materialdelay in adapting the ma chines therefor. I

The printing wheel 36 is held trom acci-- dental movement on the sh aft4:? by a spring pressed pawl engaging peripheral notches of; the w ieel,and it is moved one step 0., the distance from one printing; slug to thenext during each printing cycle by a lined pawl 5 (see Figs. 1. and 2)stationarily mounted on a standard 514: of the bed or frame and soarranged that on each up stroke oi the printing; head this pawl willens; a tooth of the ratchet dish 35: at the side the printing wheel 36and move the ratchet disk and prin ing; wheel the distance previouslystated 6., so as to bring to printing position the slug next to thatwhich was in printing position on the PIQVlOllS down stroke of theprinting head. Beneath the printing head there is platen 55, on whichthe printing; is done, and the cards are moved step by step over theplaten along; guideway indicated. at 56, by a pair ot oonumbers (3 thenovel and effect...

acting rollers 57 and 58, designed to engage one edge of the cards' Atthe side ot'one of these rollers 57 is a ratchet dish 59, and on each upstroke of the printing head this ratchet disl; and the roller associatedwith it are given a movement sutlicient to feed the card a distanceequal to a printing space en ti e card. This is accomplished by a pawl60, which is pivoted at its rear ends to an arm 61, secured to therock-shaft 14: carrying the arm' 13 to which the printing head issecured. The construction is such that on the down stroke of theprinting head t 1e awl moves forwardly, and on the up stroke pawl ismoved rcarwardly a sutlicien ..i tance to move the ratchet dish and cardding roller 57 so as to feed the card a L115- nre equal to one printingspace.

roller 58 which cooperates with the feeding roller 57', is carried on apivoted arm 62. to which is fixed hand lever 63, to which is con. acteda spring which normally presses toe roller 58 yieldingly against theroller 5?. operator has simply to press the lever 63 rearwardly toseparate the rollers and permit a card to be placed between the same.

In F 6 we have shown a card, printing of which our machine has specialutility as betore explained. lhis card has a series of tabs or sections65 separated from each other by scored lines 66, and from stubs 67 by ascored line 66'. The stubs and adjacent ends ot the tabs orsections 65have printed thereon. numbers 68, indicating the in he several garmentmaking operations. there hema on each stub in which may h be placed aset of characters (39 i hicatinp; the operator. To the right of theoperation 8. the data is adapted to be print ed by this machine incolumn form, the data in columns 70 71 and 7:? being cornmon to all thesections or tabs of a ward, this data being printed by the normallystationary or normally non-rotating; print-in wheels 35., four of whichwe have shown in. ie. 4. The price data appearing in column 73 variesfor the different tabs or sections and there f -r the differentoperations to which the ditlerent sections a (riveted. this data beingthat printed by the s ep by step mow able printing}; wheel 36. which momted so that it can be easi removed edgcivise in i, manner alreadydoscribed and which is given step by stc movement by the very edicientmechanism explained above. I

The card shown in 6 has the common or constantly recurring data and thevarying data printed on all the tabs or sections,

series of printing operations, with successive series having the same ordifferent numbers of separate printing operations. To that end we haveprovided automatic stopping mechanism including a rotary dial 74,suitably supported on the frame of the machine, which dial has on itsunder side, ratchet teeth 75, adapted to be engaged so to move the dialstep by step by a'pawl 7 6 which is pressed up into engagement with theteeth by a spring 77, and is mounted on an arm 78, carried by therock-shaft 14, the whole being so constructed that when the machine isin operation this dial will be stepped along in predeterminedrelationship with the movement of the printing head. and card feedingrolls. It will be observed that the dial is provided near its peripherywith openings or sockets 79 numbered consecutively, and adapted toreceive throw-out pins 80, whicn can be positioned to stop the operationof the machine after successive series of printing operations, thenumber of printing operations in each series depending upon the spacingof these pins, which spacing is predetermined and bears a fixed relationto the number of printing impressions that are to be printed on cardswhich are successively fed through the machine.

These throw-out pins 80 are moved in a circle by the rotating dial, andwhen each reaches a given position it engages and moves the beveled end81 of a trip lever 82, pivoted between its ends at 83 on a standardfixed to theframe of the machine, the lower end 84 of this lever beingjust beneath the bell-crank arm 29 previously referred to, and at therear of the upper end of the push rod 31 whenit is in engagement withthe lower side of this bell-crank arm.

Assuming that the operator has a series of cards to be printed, whichare to have different numbers of tabs printed with the constant andvarying data, the operator will set a pin at the zero position, andother pins in the openings around the periphery of the disk, the spacingdepending upon the number of printing operations which are to be givento the successive cards.

The operator will then place a card in the machine between the rolls andstart the operation by pressing the foot pedal, the upper end of thepush rod then engaging under the bell-crank arm 29, as shown in Fig. 2.The machine will operate repeatedly and rapidly, and when thepredetermined number of printing operations have been impressed on thecard referred to, the pin next to .the pin in zero position will engagethe end of trip lever 82, and rock it sufiiciently so that its lower endwill push the upper end of rod 31 from beneath the bell-crank arm 29, soas to stop the machine.

The operator will next place the second card in the machine, and, againstart the operation, and after a predetermined number of printingoperations, determined by the position of the second pin beyond the zeropin, the machinewill be automatically stopped, and this will be repeatedfor the different cards of the set or series.

In explaining the "construction and operation we have for the sake ofclearness referred solely to the printing of cards adapted for use inthe garment making industry, but it will be obvious that the machine maybe used for printing cards or blanks other than those of the typereferred to adapted to be used for the purpose and in the main nerexplained, and while We have explained only the preferred construction,it will be obvious that changes may be made in details of constructionand arrangement with out affecting the principal features of theinvention and the desirable functioning of the machine embodying suchfeatures.

Having described our invention, we claim:

1. In a printing machine, a movable print ing head havinga plurality oftype carrying printing wheels, part thereof being fixed in said head forrotary adjustment only, and part coaxial with the first-named beingremovably mounted in said head.

2. In a printing machine, a platen, a plurality of printing wheels, apair of coaxial shafts for supporting said wheels, each shaft supportingpart of the wheels, one of said shafts being mounted for endwisemovement away from the wheel or wheels supported thereon.

3. In a printing machine, a platen, a printing head movable toward andfrom the platen, two shafts coaxially mounted in said head, one beingmovable in an endwise direction away from the other, and a plurality ofprinting wheels, part mounted on one shaft and part on the endwisemovable shaft.

4. In a printing machine, a platen, a printhead movable toward and fromthe platen, two shafts coaxially mounted in said head, one being movablein an endwise direction away from the other, and a plurality of printingwheels, part mounted on one shaft and part on the endwise movable shaft,the part on the first mentioned shaft being normally stationary, andmeans for moving the part on the second mentioned shaft during the cycleof each printing operation.

5. In a printing machine, a platen, a plurality of printing wheels, apair of coaxial shafts for supporting said wheels, each shaft supportingpart of the wheels, one of said shafts being stationary and having abearing for the second, and the second being mounted for endwisemovement away from the first-named.

6. In a printing machine, a platen, a plurality of printing wheels, apair of coaxial shafts supporting the saidwheels, one of said shaftshaving a bearing member with a slot, and said shaft having a shiftingmember extending through said slot, said slot being so disposed thatwhen the shifting member is moved along the same said shaft is movedaxially away from the other shaft.

7. In a printing machine, a platen, a movable printing member, means foractuating said printing member, and means for auto matically renderingthe actuating means inoperative after each of a number of series ofprinting operations, each series composed of a predetermined number ofoperations which may be the same or different than the number in theother series.

8. A printing machine comprising a platen, a movable printing member,actuating means for causing printing impressions to be made, means forstarting the operation of the printing member, and means forautomatically stopping the actuation of the printing member so thatsuccessive blanks will receive oniy predetermined numbers of printingimpressions which may be of like or unlike value.

9. A printing machine comprising a platen, a movi ble printing member,actuating means for causing printing impressions to be made, means forstarting the operation oi? the printing member, and means forautomatically stopping the actuation of the printing member so thatsuccessive blanks Will receive only predetermined numbers of printingimpressions, said automatic means involving devices by which successiveblanks may receive printing impressions of the same or differentpredetermined or selected numbers.

10. In a printing machine, a platen, a movable printing member, meansfor actuating said printing member, means for automatically renderingthe actuating means inoperative after a set of successive printingoperations, and means adapted to be given a preliminary setting forcontrolling the first-named means whereby successive sets of printingoperations may vary in numbers of operations.

11. A printing machine comprising a movable printing member, means foractuating the same and having a clutch by which the printing member isstarted and stopped, a clutch controlling means adjustable for aplurality of succeeding sets of printing operations and embodyingmechanism by which the printing impressions are stopped a 'ter each of aseries of printing operations which may vary in number with respect toany other series.

In testimony whereof, we hereunto afiix our signatures.

ARTHUR H. CURTIS. CHARLES E. @ATHOUT.

